Media.Player

Algorithm for classification of employment hierarchy from electronic communications

Summary

During most litigation procedures, the electronic discovery (eDiscovery) process is required so that opposing attorneys can share pertinent, non-confidential documents related to the case at hand. Confidential documents excluded during this phase often concern client-attorney communication and other correspondence related to legal advice. Traditionally, the document discovery process has been performed by legal professionals who must manually inspect thousands of documents, a process that is both tedious and expensive, especially since attorneys are typically billed by the hour. Unfortunately, professional titles can be fairly ambiguous and some organizations do not keep a comprehensive list of employees, support staff, and outside consultants. This technology is an algorithm that is able to classify the organizational role of a potentially unlisted employee based on previous email communications.

Technology Benefits

Incorporates network structure to identify hierarchal relationshipsSemi-supervised algorithmRequires only a small set of training dataSuperior performance compared to gold standard algorithmPatent Information:Patent Pending Tech Ventures Reference: IR CU15188

Technology Application

eDiscovery algorithm for law firms and legal service providersInternal IT system for employee managementPublic relations and business development outreach

Detailed Technology Description

None

*Abstract

None

*Inquiry

Richard NguyenColumbia Technology VenturesTel: (212) 854-8444Email: TechTransfer@columbia.edu

*IR

cu15188

*Principal Investigator

*Publications

Agarwal A, Omuya A, Harnly A, Rambow O. "A comprehensive gold standard for the Enron organizational hierarchy" ACL 2012 Proceedings. 2012 Jul 8;2.

Country/Region

USA